


stars

by princeollie



Series: locals only [2]
Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: M/M, lil angst, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 09:20:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18962374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeollie/pseuds/princeollie
Summary: cody can't stop thinking about that night.





	stars

**Author's Note:**

> 'ey another thing. tbh i didn't think i'd write something so soon. hope i don't disappoint. 
> 
> i'd recommend reading 'shadow' the first part of the story. noel is flex and is also briefly mentioned early as the new guy at cody's work... they did have a fanfic meeting irl so thought i'd reference that in fic. might explore that later.

Cody hasn’t opened his window in over a month.

He keeps it unlocked sometimes but that’s only because he forgets to lock it and not because he still has hope that Flex will come back and see him. But Flex hasn’t come back to Cody’s apartment, in fact there hasn’t been any news about him since that night. Cody still worries about him. Still worries that maybe there will be news about a body found in an alley somewhere and it’ll be Flex. But no body and no Flex. Cody tries every day to distract himself with work and friends. If he’s home he’ll just sit by the window and hope that Flex will show up, hopefully without an extra hole.

He finishes work at 6 o’clock every day and from there he heads over to his favourite bar. He buys himself a couple drinks and distracts himself with a few arcade games. After finishing his drinks, he heads over to a nearby burger place and gets dinner. It’s Friday and he wants to invite some friends out but decides it’s probably too late for such an out of the blue thing. He almost invited the new guy from work. He seems cool and he’s funny enough but it probably would’ve been weird to just invite him out alone. Maybe he and his other work buddies can plan a night to get to know the new guy.

But for right now, Cody is alone and in need of distractions.

Cody heads back to the bar and orders two more drinks. After his fourth drink he decides that it would be a good time to head home. It’s still early for a Friday night and Cody uses that as an excuse to not actually go home. He doesn’t want to go to another bar or anywhere with a lot of people, so he walks. He’s drunk so his steps are lazy and he’s headed in no particular direction.

Cody misses the stars. Living in LA means that the night sky is just blank. There are places he can go to to see the stars but they’re too far for him to just walk to. He looks up anyway and just imagines stars. 

His mind keeps pulling him back to Flex. He looks down every alley he passes but he doesn’t expect to find anything. He hates himself for thinking about that night so much but it was the best night of Cody’s life, despite the blood. He feels like a middle schooler with a crush. On someone cooler and way more badass. On someone who notices you once and then never notices you again. But it’s not a crush, he’s just worried about the guy. Right?

Cody looks around and realises he’s walked further than he probably intended. He should turn back and get his car but maybe he shouldn’t drive. He doesn’t feel drunk anymore, the walk sobered him up a little but probably not enough where he should drive.

He’s about to pull his phone out of his pocket when he feels someone grab him from behind and drag him into an alley. Whoever it is, they are big. At least 6’1. They throw him to the ground and he falls to his knees. He isn’t facing them and he’s too scared to turn around. He doesn’t know if they have a knife or a gun and he really doesn’t want to know. 

“Give us your phone and your wallet.” Us? There’s two of them.

“Alright, just, can I stand up?” Cody isn’t going to move unless they say he can.

“Yeah, just don’t turn around.” This demand comes from the other one.

Cody slowly gets up, he still doesn’t face them. He reaches into his front pocket first, for his phone. He holds it out to show them he’s going to comply. He reaches into his back right pocket for his wallet. He doesn’t carry much cash with him and he’ll just cancel his cards when he gets the chance so there really are no losses for him. 

He waits for them to take his stuff but before they can, Cody hears something drop down followed by the sounds of punching.

“Hey what the fuck!” The two muggers yell in unison. There’s a struggle behind Cody and he isn’t sure if he wants to look behind but he brings himself to do so.

It’s Flex. He’s here. He’s alive and fighting the two would-be thieves. They’re two blond dudes, tall and with square heads. They look alike, like they could be brothers. They’re bigger than Flex but they’re also slower. Each punch they throw, Flex is already dodging and counter attacking. 

“Boy, you’d think with a head shaped like a brick you’d be able to hit hard like one.” Flex laughs. Cody’s tempted to laugh, too, but he stops himself.

Even though Flex is outnumbered and outsized, he’s still managing to beat them. A right hook to one and an uppercut to the other, Flex never breaks rhythm. Even when they land a few punches, which were few. If either of them hits Flex, he comes back at them with twice as many and twice as hard. 

The bigger one charges at Flex. He jumps mid-air and wraps his legs around the big guy. The big guy grabs at Flex’s shoulders and Cody can almost feel the pain on his own shoulder when he see Flex wince at the contact. He grabs the guy at the back of the head and punches hard three times in quick succession. The big guy falls backwards and seems unconscious.

Flex turns his attention to the other one. He stands there dumbfounded but ready to fight. 

“Alright, dude, just you and me. Now it’s fair.” The guy readies himself but doesn’t wait  
for Flex. He charges at him. Flex reaches behind him and pulls out an extending baton. Before the blond guy knows what’s coming, Flex hits him in the face with the baton. Blood squirts from his nose and the guy flies backwards. He falls and lands on the bigger guy. Flex is fast and before the guy can get back up, Flex has a zip tie ready and puts them on the two blond guys.

“Hey!” The conscious one yells and Flex hits him one more time in the face, finally knocking him out.

“Looks like we’re even then.” Flex says turning his attention to Cody. The adrenaline that Cody is feeling is indescribable. His heart’s beating as if it was him who took out those two guys.

“I guess so,” Cody responds, “Not that I care, but are they gonna be okay?”

“They’ll be out for awhile, but they’ll be fine. Are you okay?”

Cody was so caught up in the action he forgot the reason these guys are here is because he was being robbed. Cody is okay, he decides. Flex is here and he has no reason not to be.

“Yeah I’m good, man. How about you? What happened to you?”

“Oh that? Sorry man, I just had to go. I didn’t want you to get caught up in this.”

“I feel like I am now. I was worried about you. I didn’t know if you were dead or not.”

Flex is quiet for a bit, like he’s contemplating something. Through his mask, Cody can almost see something in Flex’s eyes. Something like guilt.

“If you’re okay with it, can I take you home?”

Cody looks over at the unconscious dudes. “And what about them?”

“I can fly. I’ll get you home and be back way before they wake up. And I’ll probably take them to the station before then, too.”

“I thought you didn’t like cops.”

“I don’t, but they probably have warrants for other stuff so they’ll be off the streets for awhile.” Flex clears his throat awkwardly. “So, can I? Take you home?”

Cody doesn’t want to go home. Going home means Flex leaving again and Cody isn’t sure if he can handle that again. He’s glad Flex is okay now but he could get shot again and maybe this time he won’t be able to get help like he did when he first showed up at Cody’s. He shouldn’t take too long to answer so he says yes.

Flex gets closer to Cody and picks him up. Cody instinctively wraps his arms around Flex’s neck. Flex tells him to hold on tight before shooting up into the sky. Cody closes his eyes, a quick reaction to the sudden jolt. He opens them when he feels things slow down. Cody loves LA at night. Seeing the city from a distance is the closest thing he’ll get to seeing stars. And things are made better by Flex being here.

Too quickly they arrive to Cody’s apartment. They land in the courtyard and Flex walks him to his unit. Cody is ready to ask Flex to stay but he remembers the other two and he stops himself.

“I feel like we should meet under better circumstances,” Flex says. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. Cody feels like he just got back from a first date. Maybe he could make that feeling really happen.

“So why don’t we?”

“What?”

“Meet under better circumstances.”

Flex’s body language shifts from nervous boy to someone more serious.

“I can’t. I can’t get you involved with this. I appreciate you helping me before. And I’m glad you’re safe but we can’t see each other again. I’m sorry.”

Cody wants to grab him again but Flex is gone before he can move. Cody looks up at the sky and feels the way the it looks; empty.

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like maybe i didn't describe it well enough but the muggers are based on the paul bros lol


End file.
